Yearning for Love
by Yami no Kaiba
Summary: Setting: Ancient Egypt. The god Set was imprisoned in a BEWD card for killing his twin brother Osirus, and the BEWD cards have been handed down from pharoah to pharoah. YamiSeto YugiJounouchi
1. Chapter 1

Title: Yearning for Love 1/?

Author: Emerald Star

Series: Yugioh

Rating: R

Pairing: Yami/Seto (Seto's name in Egypt is Set) and Set/Osirus (one-sided)

Summary: The pharaoh's Shadow Realm deck held all the Blue Eyes White Dragon cards, and there's a myth that a god's soul had been sealed into one of those cards. Yami decides to see if this is true.

Disclaimer: If I got money off of these stories, I wouldn't be posting them on the net. I don't own the characters, because if I did, Seto and Yami would be making out almost every episode.

Yami smirked in triumph as the summoning card second in on the right glowed fuzzily as it reacted to his magic. /Amazing,/ he thought, /so my father's story had been true! A god's soul **had** been imprisoned in one of the cards!/

Collecting the three other Blue Eyes White Dragon cards and returning them to his deck, Yami picked up the fourth card and studied it. Of course, the one that had an Egyptian God's soul would have been written in Egyptian script. Yami briefly considered smacking his head with the palm of his hand at his own lack of ability to reason this out, but shrugged it off. It was always better not to have assumed.

Standing up off his bed he laid the card on his bedside table. He would need to gather the candles needed for the ritual.

*---*---*---*---*

With one last surge of magic, Yami slumped to the ground, panting lightly. Glancing at the spell book that he had 'borrowed' from the priests, he grimaced slightly. This was the part he didn't like. The ink was very worn here, and it was hard to read but the general gist was that the completion of the spell needed some spilled blood in order to give the soul a body.

Picking up the silver blade he had chosen from his collection of daggers, he rested the blade in the palm of his left hand. Yami winced as he drew the blade across his flesh, leaving a trail of red, slightly viscous, liquid flowering from his skin. Discarding the knife he let the blood drip on the card.

When nothing happened, Yami cursed. All he had ended up doing was ruining one of his most prized cards. Sighing, he cleaned up the candles and the dagger, putting them away and picking up the book and card. Stopping and putting the Blue Eyes White Dragon card on his bed, he went to the door to his room, opened it and exited.

As the door closed with a soft thump, it left the room in a silent ambient darkness. Only a few minutes after Yami left, a silver glow filled the room, concentrated on the bed.

The blood of the pharaoh seemed to sink into the Blue Eyes White Dragon card as the light and energy coalesced next to it on the bed in a vaguely human shape with wings and a tail. The light shrank to the form as if it was a second skin for mere moments, then with the sound of a mirror shattering the light broke apart, revealing a slim naked young male curled up on the bed on his side, hiding beneath dragon like wings with a forked tail wrapped tightly around one of his thighs. The only item of clothing that he was wearing were thick white leather wristbands that were buckled closed.

As the reality of the situation hit the god, tears of relief flooded his eyes. Finally, after so long, he was finally free. No more isolation, no more being alone.

However, the darker part of his mind that was always laid things in black and white, not covered in the colors of emotions, hissed at him and asked, 'who was he trying to kid'.

*---*---Past---*---*

Even though Osirus was his twin, he had never paid attention to Set. When Set had tried to attract attention by messing with the mortal world, instead of being ignored he was shunned and ridiculed. Then there had been that incident with Osirus, were Set had gotten to the point he would do anything for attention from his twin...

That had been the last straw for all his family and they had gone about the process to imprison him. First, they had sealed his soul into a human form to prevent him from escaping their punishment as they prepared, locking him away in an isolated room with only a bed.

By the fifth day he had snapped, breaking the head board, taking and infusing one of the splinters with his magic (for although his powers as a god had been rerouted to lock him in this form, he still had a humans magic) and digging it sharply into his wrist and jerking up towards his elbow, repeating the process with his other arm.

The physical pain was new to him, but it only accented the torture in his mind and soul, as the blood in the immortal body seeped and flowed out of him, drenching his clothes and the carpet a pretty red. Set had giggled insanely as he kneeled in the slowly widening pool, the strength in his body ebbing away with his blood. He had thought it would finally be all over, since an immortal's wounds never healed.

As blackness had edged his vision and he had fallen sideways, no longer able to stay on his knees, he heard the door creak open minutely. In his light headed state he wondered at that. Gods that had so much power didn't even stop a door from making noise. He giggled at the thought as he turned his head to see the horrified look of Maat and the stoic but slightly shocked look of Annubis. He wondered briefly if this meant he would be judged and sent to Annubis's realm like a mortal, but shrugged it off. It didn't really matter, really.

*---*---Set's POV---*---*

I watched, smiling brightly at them as they got over their emotions quickly. That's the main problem with gods for mortals, I suddenly realized. We've seen death so much that we take it in stride. The only reason Maat and Annubis stopped for even a second was the concept that, as a god, I had chosen to die.

Annubis revived first, walking over and kneeling beside me. I smiled at him, and I wondered what he'd think about that. Actually, I wondered how all of my family would react. I've never smiled before. There had never been a reason to, since they all ignored me.

Annubis's gold colored eyes continued to study me, even as Maat got over her own hesitance. As she approached, the God of the Dead opened his mouth and spoke the first word to me he ever had.

"Why?"

My smile vanished. Even after all I've done, all I've been through, they still don't understand. As my loneliness and despair swept through me, I felt water come to my eyes. I briefly wonder if they know my name, and if they do, if they will remember it even a year from now.

The adrenaline rush from my emotions caused my blood to flow faster. Interesting… now that it was my own, I realized just how much blood humans held within. Weirdly enough, though, the adrenaline fought the blackness away from my vision.

I looked Annubis in the eyes, held them steady with my own. The humans say that out of all the gods, Annubis was the most compassionate and understanding. Then why didn't he understand me? Why didn't he understand why I hand done all these things? If I was going to die, they damn well will know why!

"I'm tired," I started in a whisper, letting my normally ice blue eyes express myself. "I'm tired of being ignored by our family. My tries at getting attention have only resulted in the opposite of what I wanted..."

Annubis's eyes blinked. "What did you want?" He asks in a soft whisper. I start to reply when the cool feel of another's skin grabbing hold of my wrists startles me. I turn my head to see Maat with her hands wrapped around my forearms, mouthing the words to a spell under her breath. I gasp, closing my eyes. No, she hadn't...

A choked whimper escaped my throat as I felt the comforting presence of the remnants of my powers as a god forcefully taken hold by Maat's magic and rewoven into a new, alien pattern that forced itself into the material world.

As my powers were stripped, the few features of my real form that were locked away using the power materialized. A scream of agony tore itself from my lips as my full weight bore down on the bones in my wings, threatening to snap them and thrust the fragments into my back. The forked tail that sprouted from the small of my back flicked out from under me and curled tightly around Maat's wrists, yanking uselessly at her.

Annubis, recognizing the danger inherent to the wings, lifted and propped my upper body against him as Maat's spell finished. A sudden ice-cold sensation coupled with firmer pressure wrapped around my wrists. My wings rustled and spread out in agitation and surprise. My tail slipped off of Maat's wrists and thrashed in the air as I hissed.

Maat removed her hands, surveying her work, nodding in approval. On each of my wrists was a white leather wristband an inch wide, closed by three successive buckles on the back of my wrists, the straps flaring away from my body. The leather was not staining that pretty red color of my blood.

The magical aura I could see and feel around the latches were proof enough that the bands could not be taken off by anyone other than a god in their true form.

I wondered why she had done this, stopped me from dying, and hope flared in my heart as I caught her eyes and searched her for the answer I sought. That's when I felt it and my hope shattered, my eyes filling with tears. Pity... Maat just pitied me.

"Why...?" I whispered and tilted my head back, looking into Annubis's golden eyes. "Why can't anyone feel...? I thought... I thought out of everyone, Siri would feel it towards me, but... But he didn't! He felt it towards HER! WHY?! WHY COULDN'T HE LOVE ME?! ...Why can't anyone love me?"

With that I curled up into Annubis's arms and cried myself to sleep. When next I woke, I was on the floor of an empty locked room.

*---*---*---*---*

Maat closed the door to Set's room slowly and looked over at the God of the Dead. "You saw it, didn't you? When he broke down like that..."

"..." Annubis shifted slightly and looked away.

Maat sighed and leaned against the door. "Then he is. Empathic, I mean."

"This isolation may kill him," Annubis deadpanned, looking into Maat's silver eyes. "Scratch that, it will kill him. It took only five days for the absence of others emotions to drive him temporarily insane. Years of it? True, he won't be able to kill himself in the card, but what will happen when he comes out and is exposed once more to all those emotions again?"

Maat's eyes widened and she noticeably paled. "He'll go mad..."

*---*---*---*---*

Emerald Star: *Grins maniacally.* Well, how do you like the mood so far? Poor Set, seems even as a god he didn't live happily.

Seto: *Eyes wide.* What the @#$^ was that about?!

ES: *Blinks innocently.* You should watch your language, Seto-sama, you're hurting my virgin ears!

Seto: O.o

Yami: *Shakes head.* You're writing a yaoi fic, yet saying you have virgin ears?

ES: *Blinks innocently, but is given away by her demonic smirk.* Haven't you figured out that 99% of what I write is yaoi or has yaoi overtones yet?

Seto: *Looking really POed.* Let's just stop right there. Alright, people, Emerald Star wants at least five reviews before she posts the next chapter.

ES: *Smiles.* The whole story's up here in my head. I'm looking at three to four chapters, each about this length. I figure less chapters, more of a chance of completion. The next chapter starts off with more of Set's past as a god, but then we get back to Ancient Egypt and Yami. Now review, peeps!


	2. Chapter 2

ES: *Hugs Saraha, Zheyta, Kitsune shippou (I feel very honored, I do!), Tikira, Jadej.j (Did I spell that right? You can't tell with the underline if it's j or i…), Dee Jay (Would I do that to poor Yami? *Glances down to the bottom of the chapter.* Well, at least you know me.^_^), Gege-kat, cloud9 (I agree with you whole heartedly!), TwilightHunter, darkness (I'm screwing around with his emotions and mind… *Grins evilly.*), Mal (I'll post it when I have it. I'm writing this out during the few minutes I have to myself in school.), AnimeFan (OMG!! It's you! You're one of my **favorite** Yugioh fan fic authors! And don't change your name, I'd never know if it was you or not!), Adrie, Achika-chan (*Hides behind a rock.* You know, I was expecting some one to bring this up… As I could tell from your other review, you already know the answer. I have half of that chapter typed up, but I'm stuck there at the moment. I really suck at writing scenes with more than two people in it at a time. I'll think about your offer though.), Black Fire (The god Set is said to be depicted with a forked tail. I added the dragon wings to make him look more like a demon, which is how the world sees him as.), and Pikazoom (Thank you so much for adding this to your favorites already!).* Thank you all for reviewing! This is the most reviews I've ever got on a first chapter that wasn't part of a humor fic!

Title: Yearning for Love 2/?

Author: Emerald Star

Series: Yugioh

Rating: R

Pairing: Yami/Seto (Seto's name in Egypt is Set) and Set/Osirus (one-sided)

Summary: The pharaoh's Shadow Realm deck held all the Blue Eyes White Dragon cards, and there's a myth that a god's soul had been sealed into one of those cards. Yami decides to see if this is true.

Disclaimer: If I got money off of these stories, I wouldn't be posting them on the net. I don't own the characters, because if I did, Seto and Yami would be making out almost every episode.

WARNING: Graphic scenes (i.e. gore), suicide attempt, yaoi (duh), extreme lime almost lemon content, etc.

Note: I'll add more pairings, perhaps. Depends on how you peeps review. Also, incase this chapter really confuses you, here's a bit of clear-up ahead of time. Set has a mental defense against extreme emotions to protect his mind from being torn apart. He's been in this mind set for so long, it took five days of isolation for his mind to feel safe enough to drop the defense. Basicly it's one of my idea's on why he's such a bastard at times.

*---*---Set's POV of his Past---*---*

As Annubis and Maat teleported me into the throne room, the crash of intense hate nearly made my knees buckle beneath me. If it hadn't been for the shattered pieces of my pride, I would have let myself fall. They were my enemy now, and the lessons that had been ingrained into my mind since birth screamed at me not to let my guard down, to show the pain the constantly fluctuating emotions were causing.

As the god's around me listed the reasons for their actions, I hastily tried to erect a mental block. However, I had started to build it to late and I could feel the very foundation blocks blown away as I welt a sharp spike in the hatred from Isis and Horus.

All of the emotions were to much and with an almost audible click I could feel my mind shift and lock in place.

*---*---Out of Set's POV---*---*

In the middle of the long list, Isis and Horus suddenly stood up from their sitting positions, glaring murderously at Set.

"Stop talking, he's not even paying attention!" Isis cried pointing accusingly towards Set, who was looking towards the floor. His hair had fallen forward, shadowing his upper face but revealing the sudden emergence of a smirk, a large contrast to his previous look of strain.

"Oh contraire, bitch of my **dear** departed brother, I've been listening quite well. In fact, you were just talking about when I slaughtered the priests of Lower Egypt. The second time, might I add. I'll have to thank you for that, I had almost forgotten about those **beautiful** screams," he finished with a note of longing in his voice.

"See?! This is why he should be restrained! He doesn't even regret what he's done!"

Set looked at her and she stepped back a step, startled by the cold intensity in those blue eyes and the paleness of his new complexion created by the blood lost from his attempted suicide. "Cut the righteous crap, **dear** sister. I know for a fact some of you have done the same kind of things at one point or another, and most of you could care less about what happens to the mortals. There's only one **real** reason why I'm here, and at least I'm honest enough to admit it, unlike all you **benevolent** gods."

"Is that so, Setty? And just what are you admitting to?" A voice, strong and supple, came from the door.

The cruel, evil look that had saturated his features seemed to disappear for a moment. His body language screamed confusion. "Siri?" Just as quickly as it had disappeared, Set's darker nature quickly reasserted itself to protect Set's mind from being blasted apart by the still uncontrolled emotions being radiated by the gods.

"So, the god that died yet was given life again by the creator appears to watch the last few moments of his condemned brother's life before being sealed away for an indeterminate amount of time." His cruel smile widened as his already angular eyes narrowed in anticipated pleasure. "Oh, wait, did I say brother? What I meant was his murderer."

His eyes closed and his body tensed briefly before the new tracks that were deep from constant use before his isolation converted the pain into pleasure. Set reached out, determined to know the full impact of his words on his brother, but what he found just made him pull back in shock which quickly turned to anger.

There was nothing there, nothing, at least, for Set. There was only love, love for someone other than him. He opened his eyes and turned sharply, seeing Osirus's eyes not on him, but on Isis.

Maat and Annubis stepped back as Set's folded wings extended in an audible snap, his forked tail raising from its previous rest. The cobalt blue aura of his magic that was surrounding his form caused many of the collected gods to move back in fright, memories of similar scenes in their minds eye. "For once in your life, **brother**, you could bother to pretend to pay attention to me!"

Nut stamped her foot, her feathered, white wings expanding slightly in her agitation. "Set, stop this foolishness right now!"

Set whirled around, dark navy blue swirls of energy pulsing through his aura in his anger. His leathery wings flapping briefly to keep his balance. "No, you sit down and shut up, mother!" Nut sank back onto her stool, shock written across her face. Never before in anyone's memories had Set not listened to Nut.

Geb [1] stood up and threw his arm out pointing towards the area on the floor that contained the two gods and Set. "Maat! Annubis! Contain Set! He's obviously out of control and if we wish to put a stop to the death of another god, we should do this now!"

First glancing at each other, the two gods came up behind Set and both placed a hand on one of his shoulders, and using their powers in concert they smothered the immortal's magic.

Set hissed and his wings folded rapidly against his back, his tail swishing back and forth in an effort to release the now pent-up energy.

Eight of the older gods stepped forward going to their pre-decided compass rose points. Set grinned sardonically as he was led to the center of their circle and ended up being face to face to Osirus. Even as the gods started their chant and Annubis and Maat left the ring before they too were caught by the spell, Set started talking, seemingly to himself.

"So this is the way it goes. You know, the full reasons and story behind my deeds, they're as corny as a mortals story[2]." The chant grew in volume as spell ingredients off to the side burst into flame and the slight breeze that came through the room turned gradually into a gale. "Perhaps I should end this like a mortals story… You know, I think I will. It would be interesting to feel your response. And this is the perfect dramatic moment, don't you think?"

As the last repetition of the chant started, Set's eyes seemed to soften as his mind switched tracks for the last few moments of his freedom. "I love you, Siri."

Just befor his soul was locked away, he felt something that made him wish to take those so few innocent, heart felt words back.

Complete and utter disgust.

*---*---*---*---*

The snap of breaking bones reverberated through the silent room as the dead weight of the now soulless body of the God of Chaos and Destruction fell upon it's fragile wings, breaking them and shoving the shafts straight through the ribcage, piercing both lungs while a stray splinter cut the amniotic sac around it's heart.

The wristbands it was wearing glowed softly and disappeared, revealing the self-inflicted injuries and allowing the little blood that still flowed through the body's system to flow out once more.

Some gods turned away without a second look without remorse well other did the same, being disturbed by the open glazed sapphire eyes.

Annubis looked upon the body of his most misunderstood relative with pity in his eyes. He had heard Set's last words and seen the heart break in his eyes for the brief second before his soul was taken.

Annubis left the rapidly dying body and walked to Maat, who held Set's prison in her hands. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "Must we give it away?"

Annubis merely nodded as the two gods teleported into the pharaoh's palace. Appearing in the throne room, they strode down the aisle way, ignoring the hurriedly prostrating mortals around them. As they reached the steps to the dais, they waited for Horus's son to come to them.

"We god's have decided to give you and your family a gift to help you in the Shadow Realm. Maat."

Maat stepped forward and placed four summoning cards into the pharaoh's hands. "With in one is the soul of a god. Protect them well." Even as the court was still reeling in shock, the two teleported home.

*---*---Back to Ancient Egypt---*----*

Yami opened the door, slipping back into his room and watched to make sure he closed the door quietly. As he turned around he froze.

Lying there on it's side, a wing spread out behind it and one arched forward and covering it like a blanket was a demon on Yami's bed.

The sound of a suppressed sob caused Yami's natural instincts to run melt away. Approaching the bed cautiously, he gingerly lifted the leathery dragon wing. What he saw made his breath catch.

A lanky, naked youth was before him, slim yet toned with the palest skin Yami had ever seen. It the soft moonlight it seemed he had silky short brown hair, a forked tail, white leather triple buckled wristbands on both his arms that seemed to pulse with magic[3].

Before he could stop himself, Yami sat down on the edge of the bed, running a hand on the boy's back in soothing circles. "Shhh… It'll be ok, you'll see."

Yami's breath caught again as beautiful wet sapphire orbs opened and stared at him, expressing the deepest sorrow the young pharaoh had never before seen. "H-how can it be?"

Till the late hours of the morning the young pharaoh tried to comfort the crying god, till both fell into an exhausted slumber.

*---*---*---*---*

[1] Geb is Nut's husband.

[2] If you only new the truth, Set-sama. ^_^

[3] I bought a pair of these at Hot Topics and I can't get over them! I wear them as often as I can, and I can't stop describing them.

*---*---*---*---*

ES: *Smiles widely.* Well, I've got it back into the time period it's supposed to be in. Incase you're confused by Yami's OOCness, it's because he's only been the pharaoh for a couple of months. So he still has a lot of compassion in him.

Seto: What's up with you and making me naked?!

ES: *Glomps Seto.* Because you're so defenseless that way! Not to mention drop dead sexy!

Seto: *Grimaces as he pries Emerald Star off of him and takes his ending script to read.* Again, if you want another chapter, Star asks for five reviews. Extra reviews will make her very happy, and will probably cause her to make this piece the closest she'll ever come to writing a lemon. *Crumples up the script and throws it over his shoulder.* You've never had a significant other, have you?

ES: *Blushes furiously.* H-How the heck did you know?

Seto: It's obvious. You avoid writing lemons as much as possible.

ES: *Growls.* Oh really? Then I guess you didn't read this one… *Waves an open notebook in front of him that has a summary that basically says Seto gets raped in the VR game.*

Seto: *Eyes widen and he makes a grab for it, speed reading through it.* What the hell?! You're pairing me with HIM?! Your sick, I tell you, sick!

ES: *Smirks.* And I'm going to finish that and post it on my website before 10-26-02, since it's NC-17. Might even try to get one of the few yugioh fan fiction sites to host it.

ES: *Turns to the readers.* Anyway, if you didn't hear Seto say it, five reviews or this story ends here. Have a nice weekend and DON'T miss tomorrow's second episode no matter what if you want to read my Seto rape-fic!


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Yearning for Love 3/?

Author: Emerald Star (FF.Net handle) / Yami no Kaiba (MM.Org handle)

Series: Yugioh

Rating: R

Pairing: Yami/Seto (Seto's name in Egypt is Set), Set/Osirus (one-sided), and Yugi/Jounouchi.

Summary: The pharaoh's Shadow Realm deck held all the Blue Eyes White Dragon cards, and there's a myth that a god's soul had been sealed into one of those cards. Yami decides to see if this is true.

Disclaimer: If I got money off of these stories, I wouldn't be posting them on the net. I don't own the characters, because if I did, Seto and Yami would be making out almost every episode.

****

WARNING: Graphic scenes (i.e. gore), suicide attempt, yaoi (duh), extreme lime almost lemon content, etc.

Note: Amazingly enough, some of you, are still confused! Yeah. Ok, here's my idea behind mortals, immortals, and gods. Gods are top notch, impervious to almost any attack but a few high-class secret magic spells, but when wounded it takes so long (thousands of years) to heal they usually die before that happens. Mortals are humans and immortals are human bodies that house the spirit of the god and don't die unless violently killed (i.e. no diseases or old age for them), but they can't pull from their god powers, but they still have the slow healing problem. Immortals have the chance to become gods again until they die, and no one in the story really knows what happens to the god's soul when that happens. Oh yeah, and before anyone asks, the healing problem resists healing magic.

*---*---*---*---*

Yami awoke to the knocking of his servants against the door. Blinking, he worried about the lack of light and the source of heat on tip of him. Reaching out with both hands, he came in contact with warm flesh and a leathery material that stirred at his touch. The leather seemed to retract at his touch and the young pharaoh winced as the light from the morning sun invaded the darkness. What had sounded like soft knocks before were now frantic poundings in the unmuffled air.

A shift of weight in the warmth and a shock of brown hair followed rapidly by sapphire blue rimmed with the pinkness of irritated eyes peered into his own ruby orbs. "Morning," came the shy greeting from the youth. Yami paused briefly with a blush rising on his cheeks. After all, Yami had never woken with a naked boy sprawled out on him before. And warm, definitely sexy looking boy. Ack!

More banging came from the door and startled Yami out of his embarrassment. He glanced towards the window and cursed. The sun was higher than it usually was when he woke up. He turned back to the still naked boy.

"Could you get off and hide for a bit? I need to be dressed, and go to the morning audiences."

The boy drew back and clambered off. Wings folded back and tail swishing lightly through the air, he smiled. "I don't even know your name."

"It's Yami," he said as he started his trek towards the door.

"Mine's Set," the naked boy said. Yami gasped, whirling around. This was the God of Chaos and Destruction?! "Not what you were expecting, huh? Don't label me by what you heard. Know that any being, mortal, immortal, or god, unless insane, always has a reason for what they do." With that, the immortal started muttering something under his breath and before Yami's eyes he faded and disappeared.

"What the-?!" The brush of phantom fingers against Yami's forearm caused him to jerk back and the sound of a boy's chuckling filled his hearing.

"Don't worry," Yami thought he heard someone whisper in his ear. "It's but an illusion. Although you can't see me, I'm still here, as you could tell if you just looked down."

Yami looked, and sure enough the morning light cast a shadow that looked as if it would belong to Set on the ground. It seemed to turn and go and merge with one of the shadows already in the room. "I suggest you let your slaves in now before you're any latter. Also, if you could manage to procure me some clothes, I'd by very much obliged."

*---*---Yami's POV---*---*

The morning audiences are finally over and since I started the day so late I'm skipping lunch and going straight to the meetings with the military officers today. I'm between looking forward to it and dreading it, because Jounouchi will be there.

Jounouchi is the Captain of the Palace Guards and he's also been my crush since I started noticing those kind of things. He can't be mine though, since my twin brother Yugi has already laid claim.

A movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention, but when I look towards the pillars, nothing's there. Shrugging it off as a flicker of the torch light in this indoor corridor, I continue on my way. As my escort and I pass through one of the shadows, I feel something brush up against my arm. I start to snap at the guard on that side but notice that he's to far away to have done it. Confused, I continue on my way only to feel it again, only this time it's followed by the sound of repressed chuckling. I checked the facial expressions of my guards. They seemed to be nervous, apparently they heard it as well. A suspicion of what was going on entered my mind.

When it happened again I snapped my hand out and grabbed for whatever was doing it. My hand met the feel of silk though there was nothing there. However, the emphatic curse that was suddenly said confirmed my guess.

"Guards, report to Jounouchi and tell him I'll be a little late, and I'll be bringing another person. You're all dismissed."

I watched silently as the guards started walking away, one dragging an apparent newbie who had opened his mouth to protest. Once they turned around the corner, I myself dragged my captive out into one of the more lighted areas. As expected, even though nothing but air met my sight when I looked ahead, there was a shadow of a tall humanoid form on the floor with wings and a tail. "Reveal yourself, Set," I commanded in my most high-and-mighty voice.

There was a shimmer in the air as there would be with a heat wave and with no more prelude there was Set in front of me, wearing a deep purple robe skirt and a black collar/cowl combination, leaving his torso and arms bare except for the white, magic locked wristbands. "Why are you here, and do I even want to know where you got the clothes?"

There seemed to be a brief, small mischievous smile on his face. If it was there is questionable as it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "I've been locked away for the Creator knows how long, and you actually expect me to stay in one place? As for the clothes, I nicked them from the palace tailors. Couldn't get a shirt though, would have screwed with the wings too much."

"That couldn't take to long, so what have-" the sudden evil smirk Set did was enough to give me pause and think it over. "Never mind, I probably don't want to know."

*---*---Set's POV---*---*

I grinned as I threw another fireball to burn the incoming arrow to ash and cinders. It seemed an assassin had decided to try and take advantage of the fact that there were no guards around the young pharaoh. They were either desperate or crazy since they hadn't stopped yet, even though we could hear guards coming down the hall.

Another arrow and fireball later, I can see the guards turn around a pillar from the corner of my eye and I'm momentarily shocked. The person leading the charge was that blonde haired foreigner I had bumped into by accident on my way back from the palace tailors. Thank the Creator I had been invisible at the time, and also that my wings and tail are hidden by an illusion right now, or that guard unit might be attacking me instead of trying to go after the assassin.

Half an hour later we're finally all at the meeting rooms and it seems the assassin got away. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted, but right now I have to figure a way to exit this room fast before the steady erosion of my mental walls succeed in fully collapsing my defenses. Three or four people I could handle, but this was way to much.

Yami ended up introducing me as Seto, a foreign mage here on travel, who had been passing by when the assassin had attacked. Oddly enough, every one except for the Captain of the Guard seemed to buy it.

Jounouchi, as I remember Yami calling him, ended up being a source of amusement throughout the meeting. Except for when he did his own little debriefing, he glared suspiciously at me the whole time. I glared right back for the first five minutes before I got really bored and took in the rest of the room. There has to be a way to get away from this...

My eyes end up on Yami though and for some reason I can't take my gaze away. He maybe a little on the short side, but there's something about him that's alluring. I can't put my finger on it, but it maybe his strong supportive personality, the way he seems to view almost everything as a game instead of something to be taken seriously, or even perhaps the way he had seemed to be able to make me feel all warm last night. Plus it was a major bonus he wasn't a soreness to the eyes. From what I had seen, the other had a class A body, with what seemed to be wild hair barely tamed with gorgeous bright ruby eyes and seemingly soft pale skin that just begged to be kissed.

[Gah! Wrong things to think about! That's what you thought about Siri and look where that got you! Forced to be immortal and locked in a card for who knows how long!]

[... But he doesn't ignore me like Siri did. In fact, it felt kind of like Yami liked me. Could Yami eventually even love me, if given time? It is possible, given from the observations I've made of mortals prior to the 'incident'.]

I'm snapped out of my inner thoughts as the screechiest voice I've ever had the unfortunate honor of hearing grated on my nerves and demanded I pay attention to the conversation going on. "There seems to be an increase in Christian heathens coming from the Sinai Peninsula. Though most of them seem to be passive, there's been a few of them crucifying some of our priests. If you'll remember from my last report, Pharaoh Yami, you still have to appoint a new High Priest for the temple in the city, as the previous one was killed in route on his way home from inspecting one of the smaller temples up that way."

[Christian? What are those?]

"About that," Yami speaks up, shifting position in his chair so he's now propping his head on folded hands attached to arms that have their elbows firmly planted on the table. "As you've all heard already, it seems I owe this mage here a favor for saving my life," Yami nodded his head in my direction, a playful light in his eyes as I look at him, startled. "Tell me, Seto, do you know much about the Egyptian Religion?"

I end up glaring at him, he knows what I am and yet he goes and asks a stupid question like that? I snorted. "Yes, probably even something's you don't, Pharaoh." Well, that certainly got an interesting response out of everyone. Yami's advisors were staring at me like I had dropped my illusion or something. Although that weird blonde one, Jounouchi, just narrowed his eyes more, as if something wasn't adding up and he couldn't put his finger on it. But then again, what do I care about him?

Their emotions were beginning to rub my shield the wrong way, so I finally snapped, "You don't believe me?" I looked each in the eye threateningly, trying for my best soul-chilling stare. Most of them looked away, though Jounouchi just gave as good as he got. Pfft, silly mortal.

"They are surprised, is all, Seto. They did not think a foreigner such as yourself would know our language, let alone our religion," Yami replied with an amused tone.

I sneered at that. Creator, their emotions were really annoying me. "I would have expected seasoned veterans never to assume such things about an unknown factor, Pharaoh."

Yami's eyes were sparkling and the military advisors were, some of them, blushing red from embarrassment. "Yes, I think you'll do nicely as the new High Priest."

I glared at him in a slight fury after that. Me, a High Priest? Making offerings and being a pitiful servant to my family? Grrr... If it wasn't for the Pharaoh's word being law, I would have refused in a heart beat.

Yami nodded in the direction of the next advisor, giving him permission to give his report. It was pretty short, just saying that there was a seeming increase of monsters in his area, coming from the Shadow Realm, and no one knew why.

[Well, since I'm the new 'High Priest', I might as well tell them why that is.] So I snorted to gain their attention. "One of you said earlier that one of your High Priests was dead and no one had taken his place, correct?" The one that had made the reference nodded, eyes sharply fixed on me. "Well, there's your problem."

"How so?" Yami asked, leaning backwards in his chair. Jounouchi was staring at me again, but this time his eyes were holding a calculating look, as if my next words were going to make some monumental difference in his opinion of me.

"Your High Priests do more than just useless prayers and rituals, you know. The High Priests actually keep the natural portals between the Shadow Realm and Earth closed with a fraction of their life energy. At their initiation ritual, a large number of portals are tied to them. When one dies, the others can manage the ones the dead one had claim to for a short time, long enough for a new priest to become a High Priest. However, like I said they can only do this for a short time since the gates weren't theirs and it takes four times as much life energy to keep one of those gates closed then their own."

"So basically my High Priests are draining themselves into exhaustion and they haven't told me?" Yami's eyes hardened. Set just shrugged.

"They might not have known about it. The only reason I know is [Siri told me] because I managed to get hold of a scroll off of a trader in my wonderings that said he had bought it off of a retired Temple Robber."

"Well then, we're just going to have to get you initiated soon, then. If there's nothing else?" No one took the move to speak. "Well then, that will be all."

[Thank the Creator! I'm finally getting away from these mortals!]

*---*---*---*---*

ES: I hate progress reports. That's all I have to say.

Next Chapter: A small scene with Jounouchi-kun and Yugi-chan, Yami ends up giving Set something, and Set ends up having to deal with a big mess. And how do the God's react to Set being out and about in the mortal realm? Not to mention being appointed as one of the 'Voices of the Gods'?

ES: Also, mainly to the person that asked me to, but this goes to anybody out there that reads this, I'd love fan art drawn on this, or any of my stories! All I ask in return is permission to post it on my site in the Gifts section.


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